At our company, we ask every financial advisor and insurance agent this question, “Have you ever made an investment in your business where you invested money up front such as in a seminar, telemarketers, a direct mail campaign or advertising where you had to commit the money up front? “ Fifty percent answer “no.” (More of the insurance agents say “no” than investment advisors/registered reps which correlates with the fact that insurance agents earn less even though insurance commissions are higher).
If you answer “no” to this question then you have a problem. How do you expect to grow your business without making an investment? Do you think the biblical manna story will repeat and happen to you with prospects falling from the sky? Do you think your existing clients are so worried about you they will send you all the referrals you need? Do you think your 10 hours of cold calling a week (90% of it purely wasted time reaching voice mail) will ever pay off?
Somehow, somebody told you a very wrong story that you could be successful in sales and marketing financial services without investing cash in your business–either by generating leads or buying leads. Just because you have some large company name on your business card does not mean that people will call you. Here’s the most important rule: you cannot depend on getting leads, prospects or clients unless YOU take action to have them. Action means investing money in a well-designed marketing system (e.g. direct mail, seminars, telemarketing, advertising) OR buying leads from a lead company that has already implemented a marketing plan. Using your own labor to cold call is no way to build a significant business. There are not enough hours in the day.
Please don’t spend another day in your career without getting committed and making a cash investment to get results. Build a real business–be a sales professional, not a sales laborer.
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